UK public inflation expectations edge down in Q1 - Barclays

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - The British public's expectations for future inflation edged down in early 2018 from multi-year peaks reached late last year, a quarterly survey by Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) showed on Wednesday.

Barclays said that public expectations for average inflation over the coming year slipped to 2.5 percent from 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, while five-year ahead expectations fell to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent.

"This is consistent with other surveys or market-based measures of expectations and should come as good news for the Bank of England as its credibility does not appear to be challenged," Barclays economists Fabrice Montagne and Sreekala Kochugovindan wrote in a note to clients.

The BoE said last month it might need to raise interest rates sooner and by more than it had previously thought to get consumer price inflation back to its 2 percent target.

The consumer price index hit 3.1 percent, its highest in over five years, in November, pushed up by the fall in the value of the pound following the Brexit vote in 2016.

Polling company GfK (Swiss: GFK.SW - news) surveyed 2,039 adults for Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) between Feb. 23 and March 5. (Reporting by David Milliken Editing by William Schomberg)